Archive for November 2009
Noodle n !
My son had a lot of fun doing this today after church. He chatted away to me while doing it peacefully and I didn’t even bother to intervene when he added glue all over the page. He was making a rainbow out of glue and who am I to “correct ” that. He was careful and I was overjoyed he was so independent , well a little sad too .
- Gather your materials. You will need various dry noodles , 2 pieces of construction paper, glue, some markers or paints, and scissors.
- Start by writing a large lowercase n.
- Have your child paint, color or if they want just leave it plain. We pulled out our favorite Do-A-Dot
and had fun painting it .
- Add glue.. if you are my son add a lot .
- Add your noodles
- Let dry.
- Cut out and glue to the 2nd piece of construction paper.
More Fun With Noodles !
(click on the pictures for full instructions)
Scooping and Pouring
Noodle Painting
Noodle Necklaces
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There aren’t many parenting blogs that I consistenly find wisdom and heart in. The Beautiful Letdown is an exception. Not only is it written beautifuly, the posts are honest, don’t have all the answers and make me want to be a better parent. For the whole month of November Casey is writing a post a day as a part of National Blog Posting Month so it’s is a perfect time to check this blog out !
The weather is changing as the fall seems more like winter in many places, and it’s a great time to talk to your children about weather. Here are some of our favorite weather books to read.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
by Pamela Chanko and Daniel Moreton is the perfect little non fiction book about weather for toddlers and young preschoolers. It’s short and has big interesting photos depicting different weather. Don’t be fooled, it looks like nothing, but trust me little guys will ask you to read it again and again. It’s important that children get read a variety of things, not simply fiction, so don’t be afraid to get your child a simple little non fiction book like this one!
Un-Brella
James and the Rain
How the Ladies Stopped the Wind
What Will the Weather Be Like Today?
Living Room Elevator
Yes that's a Swiffer he's holding - although to him it's a guitar!
My son loves elevators, especially the ones in the high rise office building his dad works in. It’s always a treat to go into the city and visit daddy at work and see the multiple banks of elevators busily dinging , opening and closing. For a few days my son have been pretending to go on the elevator and grabbing my hand to join him. So I decided to make this to help support his play and sneak in some number practice.
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of paper ( different colors), scissors or a circle paper cutter, a marker, glue stick and blue painters tape for putting it up on your wall.
- Start by cutting out as many circles as you need buttons. We decided on 12 floors, and an open and close button.
- Write out your numbers.
- Add your glue.
- Glue the circles to the other page.
- Tape it to the wall, and play.
- We would get in our elevator and decide together what number we would push, later he was the elevator attendant and I would randomly choose a number and he would find it. Once we arrived on our floor we would go to the dentist, go to our office to work, and my favorite ride to the toy store. Your child’s imagination is the limit!
Book
Elevator Magic 
Pack it !
I grew up in a family that not only loves to travel but made it their business, my son has been on many planes, and loves to play airport . This wasn’t a mama planned activity but I figured many of you will be packing suitcases over the holidays and this activity can help prepare for the trip ahead. Do not fret about having the exact items they will be packing, you aren’t training them, just getting them used to the idea of packing, choosing things to take and the idea of travel.
- Gather your materials. You will need a piece of construction paper, some plain labels, markers, a catalog or magazine, scissors and glue stick.
- Start by folding your paper in half and drawing a suitcase ( totally fine if yours is a little wonky- as long as your child can recognize it , you are fine! ).Cut out.
- Together with your child decide on the different places you should go, write the places on the labels with a dark color. I used large labels so I wrote multiple place names on each.
- Have your child color the labels with markers.
- Cut into smaller labels if needed.
- Add them to the outside of your suitcase.
- Rip out some ages with items your child would like to pack, have them cut out the items if they can.
My son cut at one page while I cut out more items for him choose from. 
He is able to cut but not navigate around objects yet, so we shared the task. - Decide which to pack. Of course my son needs lots of PJs .
- Add your glue
- Add your pictures into the inside of your suitcase.
- Let dry OPEN, if you close it it will glue together.
Books
Rooster’s Off to See the World 
Cars: Rushing! Honking! Zooming! by Patricia Hubbell has a fun retro look and is a whimsical look at all sorts of cars , places they go and who drives them. Like her book Trucks the drivers in this book aren’t always conventional, or human. My son thinks it’s hilarious that zebras, ducks and other animals are driving cars alongside humans. I love the rhyming text that never feels forced and zooms along with the illustrations.
I Love Planes!
